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Sunday, November 09, 2008

That damned interlude

What's Mallard raving about today?

Elections.

Random comments in no particular order...

Mallard's TV remote speaks the word "click." That's just weird.

No. No no no no no. Mallard crotch shot? Oh, dear God, no.

The Fillmore Foundation? For what? The promotion of stupidity and generalized hatred or rage?

I think we can look forward to at least a month of Republicans tearing each other apart after this complete repudiation, leading them to the conclusion that they lost because they "weren't conservative enough" all the while eating Sarah Palin alive and making her the scapegoat for the loss after months of saying she was electrifying the electorate. Frankly, I wouldn't miss it for the world.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This 3 week interlude of generic comics was brought to you by the Fillmore Foundation (motto: "Relevance is hard!")

Anonymous said...

Is Mallard getting some sort of prostate exam?

Anonymous said...

I look forward to responding to all criticism of Obama with "He's our president. We have to stand behind him right or wrong." Then just sit back and watch their heads explode. Hey, Bush fanatics, can we lock you up in cages when you try to protest now?

I can't wait to see the economy go back to normal thanks to nothing more then sane economics. Goodbye Bush tax-cuts and trickle down insanity. :) Of course they'll make up plenty of excuses why somehow both Clinton and Obama's sane economics are the cause of 8 years of economic depression during Bush.

P.S. - I think Mallard levitates when he sleeps judging by this comic. [insert joke about 'full of hot air' here]

Anonymous said...

I think this strip points out what is, to my mind, one of the fundamental problems with "Mallard Fillmore".

OK, I think it's fair to say that most people in the US are less than happy with how much effort, money and, most importantly, time is taken up in the Presidential election cycle.

Viewed most cynically the current situation all but ensures that the only people who are so unimportant that they can simply stop what they are doing to spend the two years it takes to run a real presidential campaign.

We all know this.

But all of that said:

But the reason I read newspapers, the reason I read --heck, the reason I read comics strips-- is not to have platitudes played back to me that are, on the average, no better than the mindless wise cracks from the guy setting beside on the bus.

In short, this has nothing to do with whether or not I agree with the point Tinsley is making.

Rather, simply at the level of a comic strip, at a minimal level of basic professionalism this is simply pathetic.

rewinn said...

"Is Mallard getting some sort of prostate exam?"

EUW! fortunately, ducks don't have prostates. But a different angle on a napping Mallard would have be more family-friendly. NOTE TO TINKLEY: characters who don't wear pants should have the discretion not to make explicit in the Sunday paper their lack of balz. Think of the children!
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"...excuses why somehow both Clinton and Obama's sane economics are the cause of 8 years of economic depression during Bush...."

You got it! One talkingpoint ALREADY circulating is that the stock market collapse was due to anticipation of an Obama presidency.

=========
"....pathetic..."

Pathos: "a quality that arouses emotions, especially pity or sorrow"

Tinkley's work arouses apathy and boredom. I want to pity him, but I just can't muster the interest.

Mostly this is because the writing is so shoddy. "Platitudes" is a kind word, when you consider that he's typically simply repeats talking points from Rush Limbaugh; his only act of creativity in the writing area is the invention of the four-dot ellipsis. Today, for example, we get a box of text with 20% more words than it needs to set up the punchline. Tinkley doesn't care about his work, so why should I?

Likewise, the drawing. He's a competent draftsman but doesn't think through what he's trying to do visually. He'd get a much better narrative line if he replaced the title block (showing Mallard's face) with the 1st panel of the strip (Mallard turning off TV); it's a throwaway. Then the 1st real panel would be ducky napping (turned so we can see that the green-and-yellow thing is his head, not a baseball cap). From the nap we go into the cow-grazing-dream sequence (kinda of an odd dream but what the hey!) Now the 3rd panel has the space for more bucolia with the "This soothing interlude..." text overlaid.

Now the transition to the punchline panel can be funny - shock lines or something - as the 4th panel is not too cramped. This not incidentally leaves room for a visual explanation as to what is saying "Hi ... I'm forming etc". Someone knocking at the door? The demonic television turning itself on? Just another part of the dream? It needn't be much ...perhaps preserving the mystery is better ... but cramming the punchline into the last inch of a full Sunday paper's strip wastes the joke.

Today's strip in the hands of someone who cared could've been really funny; what is sadder than a good joke wasted? So perhaps the proper emotion is pathos after all.

Toots McGee said...

I think what is depicted here is Tinsley's spirit animal, a dumb old cow, munching on turf and spewing clouds of offensive gas.

Today's verification word: squentil.
Squentil, for when you're still up at 2am and you're annoyed by a duck.